Hell's Gate
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: If Char was a geological hell, then Pandora was a biological one. And Warfield was set to experience both.


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**Hell's Gate**

General Horace Warfield didn't particularly like chess.

It wasn't that he _disliked _it, it was just that the game simplified war too much for his tastes. Not only in regards to human conflict, but in regards to that of the extra-terrestrial variety. If war was a chessboard, the zerg would field an army of pawns designed to swarm the enemy. The protoss would have a few queens and proceed to generate shock and awe, showing that quality was just as good as quantity. And terrans being the sly cusses they were would find ways to attack from outside the board.

"Check."

And some, Warfield reflected, were perfectly happy to play within the rules and boundaries of the game.

The general moved his king away from Valerian's knight, the mounted piece no doubt hoping to win a dukedom for his audacity. It seemed that the Dominion prince was intent on repeating his actions at Char-dive straight in, press his attack and not notice the enemy closing in around him until it was too late. He'd lost the game already and-…

"Check."

Warfield smirked and moved a pawn in front of his king, in doing so giving a bishop a clean shot at Valerian's.

"Shit."

"Exactly," the general said, knowing where the game was going from now on. In a few moves, it would be over, and he could get back to what he did best-killing zerg, and telling other people to kill zerg. Char had become the largest turkey shoot in the galaxy, and the Dominion Marine Corps had been entrusted with removing the birds of doom, to make way for terran resettlement and exploitation of its mineral wealth. And while Warfield could do that from the _Bucephalus_, he much preferred to do that down on the ground.

"You know…" Valerian said as he tried to salvage his battle plan. "I think we should dispense with pretence."

"Oh?"

"Yes," the heir apparent said, sacrificing a knight for the greater good. "You don't like chess, you beat me every time at chess, and I've got to think of another way to get you up here before handing you a difficult assignment."

"My prince, difficult assignments are what I'm _good _at," Warfield said, pressing his attack. "You want to dispatch me down to Char, to the deepest pits of zerg cesspools? Just send me there."

"Well, that's the thing," Valerian answered, now losing a rook. "I said I had a new assignment. I never said it was on Char."

Warfield blinked, but moved his queen forward nonetheless. "Prince Valerian, Char is…well, the proverbial hell. If I was a spiritual man, I might even call it the literal one. I don't think there's any other assignment that-…"

"Oh, I'm sending you to the proverbial hell alright. Just not on Char."

Silently, Warfield ignored Valerian's bishop and got his own in formation with his queen. "Checkmate."

Valerian lay back in his chair, apparently undisturbed by his loss. The general couldn't blame him, because at the very least, he didn't give a damn that he'd won. Chess was a game. War wasn't. And while he'd relish a fiendish assignment, he didn't like being brought up here under false pretence to receive it.

_Well, it could be worse. Emperor Arcturus the First might be giving it…_

Warfield cast the thought to one side. The less said, the less spoken about that…_murder _the better. He'd helped him get the psi emitter data on Mar Sara. He'd never dreamed it would actually be used against Tarsonis in an act of genocide.

"Hell's Gate," Valerian stated, getting up from his chair and walking over to a starmap, showing some kind of jungle planet. "Not the gates of hell on Char, of course. Rather the name of a base."

"You want it taken out?" Warfield asked, making his way over to the planet.

"No, I want you to occupy it," Valerian said. "I want you to finish what the UED started."

"UED? What the…"

Valerian zoomed out of the planet, showing Warfield many things. The first was that it wasn't a planet, but rather a moon orbiting a gas giant. The second that it was well outside the Koprulu sector. The third was that despite being outside the sector, it was still roughly on the same course that one would take if you wanted to head for Earth. No doubt the same course the UED Expeditionary Fleet had taken when they'd invaded the sector five years ago.

"UED…" Warfield mused, remembering the invasion of humanity's 'cousins' and how he'd been absent when Korhal had fallen to them. "Did they establish it on the way in to the sector? Or on the way back out?"

"Probably the former, all things considered," Valerian answered. "Still, it's academic anyway. The base was wiped out.

Warfield's spirits sank further than a burrowing lurker. He knew he shouldn't have felt too disappointed-any engagement with the UED would inevitably cost lives, and the Dominion had lost far too many of them already for his liking. But even so, he'd tested himself against everything the Koprulu sector had thrown at him and come out on topped, bar losing an arm on Char. But Earth, however…

_Well, screw Earth…_the general reflected as Valerian zoomed back in on the moon. _Screw 'em all…_

"Hell's Gate," the prince declared, his zoom now having descended on a human establishment. "As in, a literal hell's gate, in that it's its actual name. And moving over to the side…"

Warfield watched as Valerian moved the map to a nearby open-cut mine. How long had he been undertaking surveillance, he wondered? And did his father know?

"A mine," the prince declared. "A mine that the UED seemed particularly interested in protecting."

Warfield could see that, given the fortifications surrounding it. Fortifications that were surprisingly untouched. Had the UED abandoned it? And if so, where would they have gone?

"Zerg, maybe?' Warfield asked. "They can leave structures intact provided they butcher their occupants."

Valerian shrugged. "Unknown, general. But the zerg seemed to be heading for this moon before their queen was neutralized."

_Neutralized my arse…_Warfield reflected. He didn't know why Raynor was keeping her alive, why he'd even killed one of his own men to protect her. He had Valerian's assurances that they could step in if things got out of hand, but if he was being dispatched to this moon, who'd be here to take his place?

"And it's not just the zerg," Valerian continued. "Some protoss were heading there until the zerg lost cohesion."

"Any idea why?"

"Well, radio chatter picked up indicated they were acting in accordance with the Dae'Uhl…whatever that is." Valerian shrugged. "Jake might know, but really, it's academic. "The protoss have taken their pieces off the board, so you're set to move in."

Warfield nodded, but it was a motion that betrayed his unease. The zerg had never reached the moon, the protoss had never engaged the zerg, so what had happened to the UED?

_Hell's Gate…_he mused, looking at the base. _A biological hell, rather than a geological one?_

Well, it didn't matter. The UED had failed. The Dominion hadn't. He'd go to this planet, investigate what the UED was mining and if necessary, take over their operations.

After all, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

_A/N_

_Simple inspiration for this really, namely the territory of Hell's Gates being revealed for the _StarCraft RISK _game. Hell's Gates, Hell's Gate, Char and Pandora both being inhospitable...ended up with this._


End file.
